Chapter 4

When I woke, my head throbbed as if split open.

I was in a windowless room with cold stone walls. My wrists and ankles were strapped to a stone slab with leather restraints lined with silver runes. The metal seared my skin with every shallow breath, a constant, biting burn.

The door creaked open. Aiden Harrington stepped inside, dressed in the black tactical uniform that marked his rank as Alpha. His face was carved from ice—hard, unyielding, stripped of all warmth.

“Aiden? Let me go!” My voice trembled, torn between fury and exhaustion.

He shook his head, his tone chillingly calm, like a judge pronouncing sentence.

“Serina, Lily’s mental state has deteriorated severely. Pack Healer Silas says her chances of recovery are slim.”

“So what? I’ve told you—her condition has nothing to do with me!”

The last flicker of humanity in his eyes vanished. “Even now, you deny it. Since you show no remorse, I have no choice but to make you understand—truly feel—what it means to have your mind torn apart. This… is the price you must pay.”

He turned toward the doorway and gave a single nod.

A woman in a black robe entered—Cruel Witch Morgana. In her hands, she held a shard of obsidian etched with twisted runes. Her gaze held no pity, only cold purpose.

Aiden pressed his thumb into a vial of his own blood and signed the parchment scroll with a sharp, decisive stroke.

I watched as Morgana raised the obsidian toward my forehead. My blood turned to ice.

“Aiden! You can’t do this to me!”

He didn’t look back. His footsteps echoed once, then the heavy stone door slammed shut behind him, sealing me in silence.

Morgana pulled on black gloves and pressed the obsidian against my temple. A cruel smile curled her lips.

“Miss Worthington, someone very dear asked me to take special care of you. Don’t worry—I’ll ensure you leave here without a single mark on your skin.”

She began to chant.

The obsidian erupted with piercing cold. A wave of psychic agony ripped through my skull, shredding thought, memory, sanity. My body convulsed violently against the restraints. Silver burned into my flesh, leaving angry welts.

I tried to scream—to curse his name—but my mind splintered under the assault, fragmenting into darkness.

I lost count of how many times they dragged me back from the edge only to hurl me deeper in. When they finally unstrapped me days later, I could barely stand. My eyes stared blankly ahead, unseeing. My limbs moved like rusted machinery.

Three days passed before Aiden returned.

He reached for me, but I shoved him away with every ounce of strength I had left. Staggering, I braced myself against the wall, refusing his touch.

He studied me—my hollow eyes, my trembling frame—and for a fleeting second, something flickered in his expression. Guilt, perhaps. Regret.

“I know you hate me,” he said quietly. “But believe me—I did this for your own good. You crossed a line. I couldn’t let you hurt Lily again.”

He stepped closer. “Serina… I’ll make it up to you.”

I said nothing. Words were useless now.

Just as I wondered how to get rid of him, Beta Marcus Blackwood appeared in the doorway, speaking low and urgent.

“Alpha, Miss Ashford’s having another episode. She’s screaming for you…”

Aiden’s posture snapped taut. “Keep her calm—I’m coming!”

He glanced at me, mouth opening as if to say more.

“Go,” I said flatly. “I’ll call a car myself.”

He hesitated—just two seconds—then turned and strode away without another word.

Minutes later, my phone buzzed. A message from the Mayfair Elders Syndicate:

Your petition to sever ties with the Blackwood Mayfair Clan and your application to the Lunar Heritage Society have both been approved.

I powered off the phone, hailed a cab, and went straight to the hidden witch’s lair on Savile Row.

I lay back on the ritual table. Kindly Witch Elara stood over me, her voice soft as falling snow.

“Miss Worthington, relax. This is the final time.”

“Forget what needs forgetting. Your future will be like untouched snow—clean, quiet, new.”

I closed my eyes.

As darkness swallowed me whole, a single tear slipped down my temple and vanished into my hair.